Alfred lawton



gaat ont.

ALFRED LAW'roN, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSGNOR rro rRANcis N.LAW'roN; OESAME PLACE.

Laws Patent No. 92,461, dared July 13,1869.

IMEROVED APPARATUS FOR RAISING COAT,

The Schedule referred to inA these Letters Patent and making put of tha1D0- To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED LAWTON, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, haveinvented an Improvement in Raising Coal and other granular material; andI do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact'description of the same.

My invention consists in raising coal and otlrer granular material, bymeans of a bucket or other suitable vessel, arranged to slide in ashaft, or its equivalent, which extends so far below the ground orplatform on which is deposited the coal or other material to be raised,that the latter will of itself pass into the bucket, all substantiallyas described hereafter.

The object'oi` my invention is to save the tedious and costly labordemanded in the removal of coal, Src., by theta-id of shovels andwhcelbarrows.

In order to enable others to practise my invention, I will now proceedto describe its constructionand operation, reference being had to theaccompanying drawing, which forms a partl of this specication, and inwhich- Figures l and 2 are vertical sections of apparatus which may beused in carrying out my invention, and

Figure 3, a plan view ofthe same.

A. represents the surface of the ground or platform, on which the coalis deposited, and

B is a shaft, built of wood, iron, or other suitable material, to such aheight above the ground as circumstances may demand, the shaft beingcontinued below the surface of the ground or platform, as shown in thedrawing.

In the present instance, the shaft is of the oblong Sectional formillustrated in iig. 3; and in the front side l), of the shaft, there isan opening, e, the lower edge of which is continued, in the form of aninclined plane, f, to the surface of the ground or platform. It is notessential, however, th'at there should be but one ef these openings andinclined planes, as they may be also arranged at the back, or, ifdesired, upon all four sides ofthe shaft.

On the inside ofthe shaft a sliding door, h, is so arranged that it canbe made to close or uncover the opening e, the door occupying a positionclose to the inside of the front'wall l, and being operated, in thepresent instance, by a rod, l, extending upward to or above the top ofthe shaft; but the said door may, in some instances, be operated frombelow Vthe shaft, uithout departing from my invention.

A bucket, l), conibrming in shape to, but somewhat less, as regardslength and breadth, than the interior of the shaft, is arranged to slidein guides in the latter, the bucket being suspended by a rope or chain,y, and being raised and lowered byany suitable system of gearing, underthe control ofan attendant.

In using the above-described apparatus, the bucket is iirst lowered tothe bottom of the shaft, as shownlin lig. 1; the door h is thenelevated, so as to uncover the whole or part of the opening e, when coalfrom the mass upon the ground or platform A, and surrounding the shaft,will rush down thelinclined plane f, and into the bucket J).

When the bucket is full, the attendant deprcsses the door h, therebyclosing the opening e, and preventing the further passage of coalthrough the same. He then, by a proper system of signals, communicateswith a second attendant, who so manipulates the gearing that it shallraise the bucket to the top of the shaft, Where the latter may betilted, or its contents otherwise disposed of in any desired manner.

The importance of my invention as a labor-saving apparatus will 44bemidexstood, if we suppose it to be erected at any place where largemasses of coal are stored, to be removed from time to time, forinstance, at the coal-depot of a railroad orcanal, where it has been thepractice to remove the coa-l from heaps there deposited by wheelbarrowsand shovels, demanding the services of a number of laborers, whoconveyed the coa-l in the wheelbarrows up inclined planes, and tiltedthem into cars or other vehicles, or into chutes come municatingtherewith. All this tedious and costly labor may be dispensed with bythe erection of the abovedescribed simple apparatus, as the coal will ofitself fall into the bucket, and the latter may be raised to any desiredheight, and its contents tilted into a chute, or directly into a car orother Suitable receptacle.

The apparatus may bc used to advantage in many other localities, as, forinstance, at coal-mines, or where vessels have to be loaded with coal.And in unloading vessels, the apparatus may be erected upon the same,the shaft taking the form of an enclosed hatchway. The apparatus mayalso be employed for raising grain orother granular materiali In someinstances, where it is not desirable that the coal should be filledentirely around the apparatus, as illustrated in the first two figuresof the drawing, and where 'there is but one opening e and inclined planef, it may be of advantage to provide walls, fc x, shown by' dottedlines, fig. 3, for the purpose of coniining the coal to one side of thesha only.` In this case, it is not essential that the entire shaitshould be an enclosed structure. All that portion above the groundor'platform, with the exception of the front b, against which the massof coal bears, may consist of a skeleton frame,`

s'uiciently substantial to guide the bucket and to support the necessaryhoistinggear and other appliances.-

NVhere the coal surrounds the apparatus, however, it is essential thatthe shaft should be entirely closed to a height at least greater thanthat. of the mass` When the shaft, instead of being permanently fixed tothe ground, is secured to and arranged to project below the surface of aplatform, the latter can be mounted upon wheels, and can be providedwith a suitable turn-table, so that the appara-tus may be moved to anydesired position, and caused to face in anydireotion. The shaft can,also, without departing from my invention, be so inclined that a caroperated by the hoisting-gear, and ruiming upon one side of the saidshaft, may be substitutedior the suspended bucket.

It will be seen, that the main feature of my inventionis the sinkingofthe shaft so far below the surface of the ground or platform, that theeoal will of itself pass into the bucket or hoisting-vessel 1). lt is`bythis simple contrivanee that the removal of coal is facilitated, and thelabor heretofore expended in that operation saved.I

I claim as my invention, and desire to secru'e by Letters Patentp l. Theraising of coal or other granular' material by means of a buoketor othersuitable vessel, arranged to `slide in a shaft, or its equivalent, whichextends so far below the ground or platform on which is deposited a massof the coal or other material to be raised, that witnesses.

ALFRED LAXVTON. Witnesses E. H. BAILEY, WM. A. STEEL.

